Inmate charged with first-degree murder in death of serial killer Robert Pickton

Martin Charest, 52, was charged on July 3 for allegedly attacking serial killer Robert Pickton at Quebec’s Port-Cartier maximum security prison.

MONTREAL — A federal inmate has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of serial killer Robert Pickton last year.

Martin Charest, 52, was charged on July 3 for allegedly attacking Pickton at Quebec’s Port-Cartier maximum security prison.

Pickton died in hospital on May 31, 2024, 12 days after he was assaulted, but no charges were laid at the time.

An investigation report released earlier this month revealed Pickton was assaulted by a fellow inmate who broke a broom handle and thrust it into his face, and a separate report by an independent observer named Charest as the suspect.

Pickton was convicted in 2007 on six counts of second-degree murder but was suspected of killing dozens more women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Charest will appear in court on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2025.